The Mind in Nature

C. B. Martin

Long-awaited monograph setting out the view of a much admired maverick philosopher

Challenges conventional ways of thinking about the mind and its place in nature

Informed by the latest scientific research

The Mind in Nature

C. B. Martin

Description

What are the most fundamental features of the world? Do minds stand outside the natural order? Is a unified picture of mental and physical reality possible? The Mind in Nature provides a staunchly realist account of the world as a unified system incorporating both the mental and the physical. C. B. Martin, an original and influential exponent of 'ontologically serious' metaphysics, echoes Locke's dictum that 'all things that exist are only particulars', and argues that properties are powerful qualities. He also spells out the implications of this view for philosophical conceptions of causation, intentionality, consciousness, and the mind-body problem.

Martin emphasizes the importance of non-conscious 'vegetative' systems, which provide clear examples of intentionality in the form of representational use. The slide from representational use to consciousness involves a change in the material of use, but not the form of representation. A concluding chapter provides an argument for the view that an ontology of particular substances and properties leads ineluctably to monism: the bus we board with Locke takes us directly to the world of Spinoza and Einstein. Along the way, we are led to understand the nature of minds and conscious states of mind in a way that avoids both reductionism (the idea that mental is reducible to the non-mental) and dualism (the idea that mental substances or properties differ dramatically from physical substances and properties).

The Mind in Nature

C. B. Martin

Table of Contents

Preface1. Introduction2. Dispositions and Conditionals3. Truthmakers and Disposition Lines: From Quark to Colleague4. Parts and Wholes5. Causality6. The Road to Pythagoreanism and Back7. Linguisticism and Pythagoreanism8. Protolanguage9. Use, Representational Use, and Content10. Emergence, Reduction, and Mental Chauvanism11. Dispositional Systems12. Two Jokes Explained13. Tactile-Motor-Kinaesthetic Perception14. Verbal Imagery15. Mind in Nature: A New View of the Mind16. Warps and Woof of EinsteinReferencesIndex

The Mind in Nature

C. B. Martin

Author Information

C. B. Martin (1924-2008) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calgary.

The Mind in Nature

C. B. Martin

Reviews and Awards

"Martin's book is truly impressive and the fruit of many years of careful thought. It is masterful, insightful and clearly argued. It merits the close attention of anyone with an interest in ontology or the philosophy of mind."--Sophie Gibb, Analysis Reviews